APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ASSESSING EXCEEDANCE OF A PROCESS BEYOND SAFE OPERATING LIMITS

• US 20090281769A1
• Filed: 07/06/2009
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Energy Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Energy Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Berwanger, Patrick C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,065,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/182
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0297 Reconfiguration of monitoring system, e.g. use of virtual sensors; change monitoring method as a response to monitoring results
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 9/02 electric

Abstract

An apparatus and method implementable with a software application for checking or assessing exceedances process variables beyond safe operating limits is disclosed. The process has instruments, a process history database, and one or more external databases. The instruments measure process variables and can be associated with the equipment. The process history database stores a plurality of values of the process variables measured by the instruments. Data of the equipment, the associated instrument, and the safe operating limit for the equipment is defined in a limit sequence of the software application. Preferably, the data of the equipment, the instrument, and the safe operating limit is imported from the one or more external databases. The process history database is searched for one or more exceedance values that are measured by the defined instrument and that exceed the defined safe operating limit. The “apparent” exceedance values are then imported from the process history database into the software application. Finally, the user uses to software application to evaluate and validate the exceedance values.

Claims

1-29. -29. (canceled)

30. A method implementable on a computer system for assessing exceedance of safe operating limits of a process, the process having equipment and having an instrument for measuring a process variable of said equipment, the computer system having access to equipment data for the process, instrument data for the equipment, and a process history database storing a process variable measured by the instrument, the method comprising:

(a) electronically importing equipment data for the process and instrument data for the equipment into a database for exceedance monitoring, wherein the instrument data comprises safe operating limits of the process;

(b) for a selected piece of equipment in the process having an associated instrument for measuring a process variable, completing a reporting record with information from the exceedance database, wherein the reporting record includes a defined instrument tag and defined limits including an exceedance limit value associated with safe operating limits for the process;

(c) electronically searching the process history database, based on the defined instrument tag and defined limits in the reporting record, for data values of the process variable measured by the instrument which exceed the exceedance limit value;

(d) electronically importing the data values from the process history database into the exceedance database as discrete exceedance values representing apparent exceedances;

(e) displaying as part of the reporting record one or more exceedance records each representing apparent exceedances for an interval of time representing the duration of the apparent exceedance for evaluation by a user; and

(f) electronically recording based on input from the user whether the apparent exceedance is valid or invalid.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising, if the apparent exceedance is invalid, receiving user input to revise the defined instrument tag and/or defined limits in the reporting record that led to the invalid exceedance.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the information in the reporting record information to be revised includes one or more of correcting a wrong instrument tag and correcting a wrong safe operating limit.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising repeating steps (c) through (f) with the defined instrument tag and defined limits in the revised reporting record resulting in one or more new exceedance records that exclude the invalid apparent exceedances.

34. The method of claim 31 further comprising receiving user input regarding the invalid exceedance selected from the list comprising incorrect limit-instrument range, incorrect limit-SOL, incorrect reading, and wrong instrument tag.

35. The method of claim 30 further comprising, if the apparent exceedance is valid, receiving user input to record the type of followup recommended.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising, after the followup is accomplished, repeating steps (c) through (f) resulting in one or more new exceedance records.

37. The method of claim 35, further comprising receiving user input regarding followup for the valid exceedance selected from the list comprising investigate exceedance, check instrument name tag, check instrument range, reconfigure and reprocess, and maintain instrument.

38. The method of claim 30 wherein the instrument data for the equipment comprises one or more of type of safe operating limit, instrument tag name, value for safe operating limit, high/low range, exceedance limit value, and maximum or minimum measured values.

39. The method of claim 30 wherein the equipment data comprises one or more of SAP equipment number, equipment related documents, name, description, type, and flowsheet.

40. The method of claim 30 further comprising limiting the search of the process history database according to a defined time.

41. The method of claim 38 wherein the exceedance limit value is a more conservative value between the value for safe operating limit and the high/low range for type of safe operating limit.

42. The method of claim 30 wherein the exceedance record represents an average of the discrete exceedance values for the interval of time.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the exceedance record represents a start of the interval, an end of the interval, a duration of the interval, and the average of the discrete exceedance values during the interval.

44. The method of claim 30 further comprising electronically merging into a single exceedance record adjacent exceedance records that are separated by a predefined interval.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the merging is accomplished automatically prior to displaying the exceedance records.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the merging is accomplished manually by receiving a selection of adjacent records from a user.

47. The method of claim 44 further comprising electronically unmerging a single exceedance record back into separate adjacent exceedance records.

48. The method of claim 30 further comprising rendering a graph of the discrete exceedance values displayed in conjunction with the safe operating limit for a selected exceedance record.

49. A method implementable on a computer system for assessing exceedance of safe operating limits of a process, the process having equipment and having an instrument for measuring a process variable, the computer system having access to a process history database storing a process variable measured by the instrument, the method comprising:

(a) receiving data to complete fields in a reporting record comprising, for a selected piece of equipment, equipment data for the process and instrument data for the equipment, wherein the instrument data comprises a defined instrument tag and defined limits including safe operating limits of the process and an exceedance limit value associated with safe operating limits for the process;

(b) using the defined instrument tag and defined limits in the reporting record to electronically search the process history database for data values of the process variable measured by the instrument which exceed the exceedance limit value;

(c) electronically importing the data values from the process history database into the exceedance database as discrete exceedance values representing apparent exceedances;

(d) displaying one or more exceedance records each representing apparent exceedances for an interval of time representing the duration of the apparent exceedance for evaluation by a user; and

(e) electronically recording based on input from the user whether the apparent exceedance is valid or invalid.

50. The method of claim 49 further comprising, if the apparent exceedance is invalid, receiving user input to revise the defined instrument tag and/or defined limits in the reporting record that led to the invalid exceedance.

51. The method of claim 50, further comprising repeating steps (b) through (e) with the defined instrument tag and defined limits in the revised reporting record resulting in one or more new exceedance records that exclude the invalid apparent exceedances.

52. The method of claim 49 further comprising, if the apparent exceedance is valid, receiving user input to record the type of followup recommended.

53. The method of claim 52, further comprising, after the followup is accomplished, repeating steps (b) through (e) resulting in one or more new exceedance records.

54. The method of claim 49 wherein the exceedance record represents an average of the discrete exceedance values for the interval of time.

55. The method of claim 49 further comprising electronically merging into a single exceedance record adjacent exceedance records that are separated by a predefined interval.

56. The method of claim 55 further comprising electronically unmerging a single exceedance record back into separate adjacent exceedance records.

57. A computer-readable medium having instructions to perform a method implementable on a computer system for assessing exceedance of safe operating limits of a process, the process having equipment and having an instrument for measuring a process variable, the computer system having access to a process history database storing the process variable measured by the instrument, the method comprising:

(a) electronically importing equipment data for the process and instrument data for the equipment into a database for exceedance monitoring, wherein the instrument data comprises safe operating limits of the process;

(b) for a selected piece of equipment in the process having an associated instrument for measuring a process variable, completing a reporting record with information from the exceedance database, wherein the reporting record includes a defined instrument tag and defined limits including an exceedance limit value associated with safe operating limits for the process;

(c) electronically searching the process history database, based on the defined instrument tag and defined limits in the reporting record, for data values of the process variable measured by the instrument which exceed the exceedance limit value;

(d) electronically importing the data values from the process history database into the exceedance database as discrete exceedance values representing apparent exceedances;

(e) displaying as part of the reporting record one or more exceedance records each representing apparent exceedances for an interval of time representing the duration of the apparent exceedance for evaluation by a user; and

(f) electronically recording based on input from the user whether the apparent exceedance is valid or invalid, wherein if the apparent exceedance is invalid, receiving user input to revise the defined instrument tag and/or defined limits in the reporting record that led to the invalid exceedance and selectively repeating steps (c) through (f) with defined instrument tag and defined limits in the revised reporting record resulting in one or more new exceedance records that exclude the invalid apparent exceedances.

58. A computer-readable medium having instructions to perform a method implementable on a computer system for assessing exceedance of safe operating limits of a process, the process having equipment and having an instrument for measuring a process variable, the computer system having access to a process history database storing the process variable measured by the instrument, the method comprising:

(a) receiving data to complete fields in a reporting record comprising, for a selected piece of equipment, equipment data for the process and instrument data for the equipment, wherein the instrument data comprises a defined instrument tag and defined limits including safe operating limits of the process and an exceedance limit value associated with safe operating limits for the process;

(b) using the defined instrument tag and defined limits in the reporting record to electronically search the process history database for data values of the process variable measured by the instrument which exceed the exceedance limit value;

(c) electronically importing the data values from the process history database into the exceedance database as discrete exceedance values representing apparent exceedances;

(d) displaying one or more exceedance records each representing apparent exceedances for an interval of time representing the duration of the apparent exceedance for evaluation by a user; and

(e) electronically recording based on input from the user whether the apparent exceedance is valid or invalid, wherein if the apparent exceedance is invalid, receiving user input to revise the defined instrument tag and/or defined limits in the reporting record that led to the invalid exceedance and selectively repeating steps (b) through (e) with the defined instrument tag and defined limits in the revised reporting record resulting in one or more new exceedance records that exclude the invalid apparent exceedances.